The whole issue of whether youth ministry has ‘failed’ as an experiment in Christian churches has been much debated recently. Here are an interesting set of articles from The Gospel Coalition website on some of the current debate around youth ministry. Also, there is another article here on the topic.

In Niddrie the issues are somewhat different given that we have only one new Christian, teenage girl at the moment. More teenagers are coming along to our services but, as yet, we have not seen any credible professions of faith. The rest of our work is, on the whole, evangelistic. We have no ‘crowd’ to attract a crowd, so to speak, and therefore this does present us with some difficulties. We do have lots of things going on but with no real fruit. Please pray for a breakthrough in this area over the next few years. We are currently building a solid foundation and hope to reap a harvest in God’s timing.

Again, please pray for us, particularly for a female youth worker, currently an urgent need. We have some potential people in the pipeline but as yet we have not found the right person.

268.73 S

“Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body. Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” (Ecclesiastes 12:12-13)

School is back in session! (No kidding Lane, thank you so much for bringing up such a painful subject. While you’re at it, why don’t you give me a nice paper cut, and pour lemon juice on it?)

School is ultimately about being educated…but don’t forget to keep the main thing the main thing. Try grading yourself with the list below, and see how well you are being schooled.

• If I learn my ABCs, can read 600 words per minute, and can write with perfect penmanship, but have not been shown how to communicate with the Designer of all language, I have not been educated.
• If I can deliver an eloquent speech and persuade you with my stunning logic, but have not been instructed in God’s wisdom, I have not been educated.
• If I have read Shakespeare and John Locke and can discuss their writings with keen insight, but have not read the greatest of all books – the Bible – and have no knowledge of its personal importance, I have not been educated.
• If I have memorized addition facts, multiplication tables, and chemical formulas, but have never been disciplined to hide God’s Word in my heart, I have not been educated.
• If I can explain the law of gravity and Einstein’s theory of relativity, but have never been instructed in the unchangeable laws of the One Who orders our universe, I have not been educated.
• If I can classify animals by their family, genus and species, and can write a lengthy scientific paper that wins an award, but have not been introduced to the Maker’s purpose for all creation, I have not been educated.
• If I can recite the Gettysburg Address and the Preamble to the Constitution, but have not been informed of the hand of God in the history of our country, I have not been educated.
• If I can play the piano, the violin, six other instruments, and can write music that moves men to tears, but have not been taught to listen to the Director of the universe and worship him, I have not been educated.
• If I can run cross-country races, star in basketball, and do 100 push-ups without stopping, but have never been shown how to bend my spirit to do God’s will, I have not been educated.
• If I can identify a Picasso, describe the style of da Vinci, and even paint a portrait that earns an A+, but have not learned that all harmony and beauty comes from a relationship with God, I have not been educated.
• If I graduate with a perfect 4.0 and am accepted at the best university with a full scholarship, but have not been guided into a career of God’s choosing for me, I have not been educated.
• If I become a good citizen, voting at each election and fighting for what is moral and right, but have not been told of the sinfulness of mankind and our hopelessness without Christ, I have not been educated.

However…

If one day I see the world as God sees it, and come to know Him, Whom to know is life eternal, and glorify God by fulfilling His purpose for me-

Then, I have been educated!

(Author Unknown)

Questions:

1. How well am I truly being ‘educated’?
2. If Christ came back today, would He recognize you? Why or why not?
3. Which area(s) of my ‘education’ do I need to work on the most?

via Got School? Teen Devotion – Dare 2 Share Youth Ministry Resources.

        All things comes from Him, and it is right to consider Him in all things. I desire nothing but the Lord’s will be done in my life. To God Be All the Glory

Noodle Hockey is a game that my students take SERIOUSLY!!! We have a saying: “Friends come and go but Noodle Hockey is life!” Whether or not your group takes this maxim to heart or not, they will have a lot of fun playing Noodle Hockey. Now is the perfect time to get your Noodle Hockey supplies because all the stores are selling pool noodles. Buy one pool noodle for every two students you expect to have playing!

To prepare, spend some time cutting these noodles in half. [NOTE: there is some division among Noodle Hockey aficionados about whether it is best to go half-noodle or full-noodle. My personal preference is for half-noodle. This is partly because full-noodling lends itself to a controversial practice known as "looping" in which the hockey player folds his noodle in half, creating a loop with which to make power shots. Another reason is that my Senior Pastor's name is not Rick Warren and half-noodling is easier on the budget] Put your noodles in a box with a rubber ball roughly the size of a grapefruit. Noodle Hockey can be played with a beach ball but, again, this is a matter of preference!

The game area can be set up indoors in bad weather but it works perfectly on a lawn. Set up goals using two lawn chairs about 3 full-noodles apart. How big you make the rest of the space will depend on the size of your group. Close quarters works better for a smaller group while a larger field will work best for a bigger group.

Divide up teams via your preferred method. Avoid any situation where you might be facing off against the pastor’s kid. ESPECIALLY if he is asthmatic and/or wears glasses.

By now you have surmised that this game is played like field hockey only with foam noodles. You can make the rules as simple or as complicated as you want to. I tend to keep things simple so that my Junior High students can get most of the rules in between squirrel spotting sessions. Here are my simplified Noodle Hockey rules:

Danny’s Simplified Noodle Hockey Rules: Alright guys! Put those noodles down! No one pick up a noodle until AFTER I am done giving these instructions! Each team needs to choose a goalie… NOT RIGHT NOW! the goalie will be allowed in between the chairs and can block the ball only with his body or his noodle. If the ball goes in between the chairs and passes through, that is a point for the team that shot it! Are you paying attention, Timmy? This is important. No hitting eachother above the knees! I will put you in the penalty box for 5 minutes. If the ball goes out of bounds, everyone goes back to their goal and whichever team didn’t knock it out will start it! Look over here, Timmy! No holding the ball or pinning the ball with your noodle. You can’t kick the ball either. I think that’s it… LET’S GO!!!… Timmy, over here… We’re starting… It’s called noodle hockey… Just pick up a noodle and we’ll show you.

Okay so that’s about everything you need to know about Noodle Hockey. This is a favorite of students and volunteers alike. The other night I had a volunteer tell me that this game reminded her of how much she liked field hockey. She said it was great because it didn’t come with all the stick related injuries. All your volunteers may not share the same affection for Noodle Hockey but remember… volunteers come and go but Noodle Hockey is LIFE!!!

Does YOUR group play Noodle Hockey? What variations do you play?

ATTIC,

Steve

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably of two minds when it comes to the subject of cell phones in youth ministry.

Your first mind is telling you that Millennials are an ever more connected generation and that cell phones are a reality of life. We ignore them at our own risk! We should be harnessing the power of texting to keep our kids informed! We should have them use their cell phones to play games! You probably roll your eyes when older people complain about teenagers and their texting and tell you about how back in their day if you wanted to tell someone something you got your lazy butt up, hitched a ride on the back of a triceratops, went to their cave, and told them yourself. Or something like that… you’re really not paying attention to them while you check your Facebook messages on your iPhone.

Your second mind is telling you that you would like to get through ONE STINKING BIBLE STUDY without someone trying to hide their cell phone under the couch pillow and multitask! Dude, I know what you’re doing! No one looks down and smiles at their crotch that much! For the love of God… FOCUS!

Let me suggest something that will put both of your minds at ease: a cell phone box. Be totally cool with kids bringing their cell phones to youth group or on the retreat (since they’re going to whether you’re cool with it or not) and save yourself the headache of constantly having to police a no cell phone policy and having to deal with the objections of your students and their parents (The parents are the worst about this! “What if something were to happen?”, they say ominously, imagining some doomsday scenario inwhich your entire group is stranded in a post-apocalyptic hellscape where every form of communication has been knocked out by the terminators except for their child’s cell phone). You could even use them to play games with, but when it’s serious time or together time… have everyone, yourself included, put their cell phones in a box until that time has passed.

This strategy has been VERY effective for my ministry. Here are some pros for the box strategy:

• You don’t come off as anti-cell phone. If anything, you’re showing kids that you are totally cool with their “precious” by accepting them during other times. Students are fine when they know they will get their phones back in twenty minutes.
• You’re leading by example! When students see you relinquishing your cell phone, they understand that this is a value to you. You are giving them your undivided attention so they should return the courtesy.
• The box can mark a clear transition between fun time and serious time. We pass the box like an offering plate. It’s amazing how the group just naturally settles down when they relinquish control of their screens.
• The students like it! The same kids that were hesitant at first are the ones that remind me if we forget to pass the box. The kids are so used to having the divided attention of people in their lives, even adults, because of the new world we live in that it is refreshing to have the undivided attention of their peers for a short time.
• You can avoid being THAT group at the big youth conference. You know the one I’m talking about. The speaker is making this big life changing point and they’re all playing Fruit Ninja! I like to bring the box along on conferences and let the parents know ahead of time when their kids will be “going dark”!

There you have it, my fool-proof plan for welcoming cell phones into your ministry! Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to stop blogging. My senior pastor has been talking to me for longer than usual and I’m starting to think it may be important.

Do you use a cell phone box in YOUR ministry? How do you incorporate this new technology into your programs?

The parking lot to the youth room door is your “welcome mat”.

To a new student, everything from the time that he pulls on campus is part of the experience.  If he has to search through the church basement to find this elusive “Youth Room” or drive down a gravel road through the woods (yes I’ve seen both of these) he will be weirded-out before he even finds you.

What a new student experiences in the first 30 seconds sets her expectations for the event.  For most of us, that time is spent getting from the parking lot to the youth room.  This is your “welcome mat”.  Make sure it communicates the right thing to students.

Here are some tips on how to set the environment from the parking lot to the youth room:

• Have direction signs.
• Encourage students & leaders to hang out or play sports outside.
• Make sure that the door leading inside is well lit.
• Have a greeter at the door.
• Have a welcome team directing students from the front door to the youth area.
• Have a person to help new students get plugged in.
  • Introduce new students to their small group leader (Let’s face it.  It’s odd to a middle school boy to have a 30 year old man come up and say “hi”.  Having a peer introduce makes a world of a difference).
  • Tell leaders to smile.

What rooms, hallways, or areas make up your welcome mat? What can you do to make it more welcoming?

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I hope it is a time of rest for you, but also a time of thankfulness for the people who serve our country.

The other night during my closing shift at Chick-fil-A something hit me.

We were trying to get all the closing tasks done, and I was being given directions from 3 different people. Finally, one of them says “Adam, you’re a smart guy, we trust you to do what you’re supposed to do.” Basically he was a giving me the freedom to think for myself, but when he did I realized something.

I have slowly started losing the ability to think for myself. It was actually hard for me to do my job without someone telling me what to do. It’s been hard for me to write blog posts lately too, I’ve had a hard time breaking out and looking at things from MY perspective.

And that’s a bad sign.

I’ve been so busy lately that I’ve been cutting corners and going with the flow instead of thinking for myself. I’ve stopped creating and started consuming.

It’s easy to do, but our dreams suffer if we get stuck in cycle of consuming instead of creating. If we start accepting the status quo and stop pushing to new boundaries we start to lose our voice. We slowly but surely fall in line with everything and everyone else.

It’s hard to blaze a new path or chase a dream that some might think unusual. It’s even harder if you’re trying to do that from a “this is the way things have always been done” perspective.

If you want to make and impact – think for yourself.

It is important that we remember our history and build memorials to that history and the people that created it.  History teaches us very many valuable lessons.  It gives us our roots and helps us to learn from our failures and successes.  Memorials are important to God too.  Many times in the Bible God tells His people to make a memorial at a certain location or hold a particular festival at a certain time of the year in memory of an event.  Every year the Israelites gave gifts at a particular time of the year in memory of the salvation God brought to them through Queen Esther and her Uncle Mordecai.  The Passover is held each year in memory of God bringing the people of Israel out of bondage from Israel.  In Numbers 15: 39 the people were told to put tassels on their clothing to help them remember God’s commands, “You will have these tassels to look at and so you will remember all the commands of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes.”  In Joshua 4: 5-8 stones are used as a memorial of another great act of God, “⁵ and said to them, “Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, ⁶ to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ⁷ tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever.”

Even more important than these memorials that man can build on earth to remind them about historical events are the memorials we can build before God spiritually.  God values these memorials. In Acts 10:4-6 we see an example of a spiritual memorial before God, “⁴Cornelius stared at him in fear. “What is it, Lord?” he asked. The angel answered, “Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God.”.  The things we do for the Lord are the most important things we will ever do.  God pays special attention to the way we treat others.  In reality we are remember what God has done for us, when we treat others kindly and mercifully.  It’s like building a spiritual memorial wall of God, to show others when we treat them as the Lord would have us to treat them.  They get a chance to visit a memorial about God when they see us in action for Him.

What kind of Memorial are you building for God?

Well, it’s the night before our Grade 7-8 year-end retreat…an overnighter to Pines Bible Camp near Grand Forks, BC.  Don’t get me wrong…I’m sure it’s a great place…but the destination is not the goal.  The destination might be a goal…or an implicit goal.  But then again, we I bet we could take our kids almost anywhere and we would have a powerful time.

No, the real goal – the explicit goal – the paramount reason for taking two days off school, for asking so much more of our staff than a simple 9-5 job, for giving kids another chance to meet with God in a powerful way – is having 34 continuous hours with our staff & students.  These 34 hours will seem much longer than 34 x 60 = 2040 minutes.  I guarantee it.  I am so confident because of the beauty of camping, because of the simplicity of getting on a bus for an old-fashioned adventure, because of the renewing & eye-opening opportunity that exists when we step away from our well-known/safe/familiar/comfortable day-to-day life and take a peek at something new.

For the past many retreats I have spent the night before getting ready to share – getting ready to speak – trying to finish start (see my recent post on Planning) my talks.  Speaking at camps is a serious art form.  But, I’ll save that for a future post.  No, this retreat I am so pleased to say that our HCS Chaplain, Josiah Bitgood (Facebook, Twitter, Blog), will be leading the talks.  So, rather than getting a good sleep the night before (and really, why pack?)…I’ve got a post on my mind…trying to articulate why retreats & camping play the role they do in our lives of our students.

It should be noted here that student retreats were existent long before I came to Heritage and will continue to exist long after I’m gone.  My first experience with meaningful camping was as a boy at summer camp – rustic rural Christian kids camp and also jock sports camp.  Either way, it was a great time of personal development, of building friendships, and of eating white break with half-inch think butter and sugar (at the Bible camp, not the sports one…).  Seriously…truly amazing.

Camping has been a central piece of my family experience as well.  As a young boy, my father and I spent time each summer travelling to Yoho National Park.  I’m not sure what was better – the hiking or the car rides…memorizing one entire album while being quizzed on the Capitals of our Canadian Provinces and my 10×10 times-tables.  Again, like above, it wasn’t the destination…it was something else…

English: YLlogo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After I graduated from high school I spent time working with Young Life, a Christian youth organization, who’s modo is, “loving kids in their world, encouraging them to know Jesus Christ.”  I never experienced Young Life as a kid – only as a volunteer leader and staff person.  [As a side note: As a teacher and principal, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think back to my days with Young Life.]  Young Life’s philosophy is quite simple – as stated by its founder, Jim Rayburn,

“It’s a sin to bore a kid with the Gospel.”

So, in a nutshell, Young Life is the craziest fun you will ever experience…but…it’s not the fun that keeps kids coming back (destination)…it’s something more…

Young Life boiled its system (although I hate calling it that…perhaps pedagogy would be better here…) into “The 4 Cs”: Campaigners, Contact Work, Club, Camp.  One of the best articulations of this can be found right here by former Young Life staff person Bob Perkins: No Banana Splits (PDF).  For the record, the name of this document is a caution to youth workers everywhere that your weekly events cannot be bigger and better each week.  This is a cycle that can never be maintained.  Events (what Young Life calls Club) must draw kids because of something more/extra/deeper than the circus-show of dazzling prizes/events/swag etc.

So what is this extra missing ingredient?  What is the value-added experience beyond raffling off cars and having pizza parties each week?  What are the components that will keep kids (or should I say all humans) engaged/safe/empowered/encouraged/known?

Relationship.  (I’ve tried three times with three different strategies to add 20 lines of space before this word…not wanting to give away the answer until you had scrolled down…#sigh)

This is what makes camp so amazing:

• quality time with peers who accept you and role models who celebrate you
• moments away from our hustle-and-bustle of daily life…our daily life full of our instant-on / instant-stimulus / instant-response gadgets & mind-frames
• basic human needs: food/shelter/warmth…camp is a great neutralizer…[my old Young Life boss used to say, "there's just something humbling and safe-building when you wake up beside someone who has toothpaste all over the side of their mouth...]
• there’s nothing quite like a fire, ocean, star, mountain, sunset/rise, cow & calf moose to force us all to ponder the magnitude of our universe & the infinitude of our role in it…and to consider the basic question of origins & purpose

Camp is about connecting with things around us – nature, comrades, or even ourselves if we venture alone.  Camp is about being put in situations that might never happen ‘in real life’.  Camp is about building relationships.

So, this is another thing I absolutely love about my school.  We spend 2.5 days the first week back from summer at Morning Star Bible Camp on a high school retreat – what a way to come back after the summer break!  We take 2 more days in February for our high school mid-winter retreat.  And, our grade 7 and 8 (next year’s middle school) classes get two days now enjoying each other’s company and growing together.  I trust that these two days will be powerful.  Yet, I am reminded often, this is not an equation.  You cannot simply add ‘time off school’ + ‘out-of-town over night trip’ + ‘cookies galore’ = ‘amazingly powerful time’.  Also, I don’t want to set up too high of an expectation – amazingly powerful time – because any time away as a group this time of year will be great.

Food for thought: Have you had some positive (or negative) camping experiences?  What have been some of your meaningful ones and what contributed to making them so?

We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. (II Peter 1:16)

There are well over 300 fulfilled prophecies concerning Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. According to author Lee Strobel, the statistical probabilities of just 49 of these prophecies to be actually fulfilled is 1 x 10157. That’s one out of 10 with one hundred fifty seven zeroes! That is the same statistical chance of a blind man randomly picking a pre-marked molecule after wandering a trillion, trillion, trillion, trillion billion universes!

When you do the math on the prophecies that have already been fulfilled, it’s impossible to honestly walk away from the Scriptures believing that it was random chance. In fact, I believe it takes more faith to deny Jesus Christ than to accept Him and His claims. Why? Check this out: Unlike ancient foretellers and modern “psychics”, God‘s standard for fulfilled prophecy is 100%.

“You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.” Deuteronomy 18:21-22

If you missed even one prediction, you were a false prophet. If you were a false prophet, you were put to death. Think about that for a moment. If the “forecasters” on the psychic phone networks out there lived in Old Testament times, they would have had a very short career span (as well as life span). Yet some people today put more stock in those freakshows than they do the Word of God!

As for Christians, we have people like Daniel on our “psychic hotline”- remember the story of Daniel and the bad kitties? Anyway, he did much more than avoid being Lion Chow. For example, five hundred years before Christ even lived; Daniel predicted the demise of the Babylonian Kingdom, the rise of the Persian, Grecian and Roman kingdoms. He also predicted accurately the rise and fall of Alexander the Great and the four generals that would take over after his death.

Kinda sends a chill down my spine!

Daniel even foretold precisely the time of Christ’s death in Daniel 9:25-26. We could on and on, but the point is that your faith in the Bible being God’s Word is no leap in the dark. In fact, the Bible backs up its claims far better than any other religious text.

So don’t be intimidated by those around you who chatter against God’s Word. They have no idea what they are talking about, and truth is on your side. When you do the math, it is crystal clear that the Word of God stands head and shoulders above every other book ever written. It is, without a doubt, the book of books.

Also, don’t be afraid to completely trust the words of Scripture. It is God’s message to the world, and following its truth is the only hope of life in the universe.

Questions:

Why do most unbelievers refuse to do the math?

What are some ways you can defend your faith more effectively?

Why do some Christians doubt God’s Word?

What do you need to do to study God’s Word on a regular basis?

via Got Prophecy? Teen Devotion – Dare 2 Share Youth Ministry Resources.

               God has truly set a plan for everyone. This morning my mom and I spent 2 hours in talking about the gospel, me sharing to her about Jesus and what He is all about and what we should all be about in line with God’s desire that’s noted in the Bible. There’s is non like Jesus. God Bless you all

Video game and porn addictions are different. They are “arousal addictions,” where the attraction is in the novelty, the variety or the surprise factor of the content. Sameness is soon habituated; newness heightens excitement. In traditional drug arousal, conversely, addicts want more of the same cocaine or heroin or favorite food.

The consequences could be dramatic: The excessive use of video games and online porn in pursuit of the next thing is creating a generation of risk-averse guys who are unable (and unwilling) to navigate the complexities and risks inherent to real-life relationships, school and employment.

The article affirms what others are saying about brain chemistry:

Young men — who play video games and use porn the most — are being digitally rewired in a totally new way that demands constant stimulation. And those delicate, developing brains are being catered to by video games and porn-on-demand, with a click of the mouse, in endless variety.

Read the entire piece.

Also check out the author’s 2011 TEDTalk on “The Demise of Guys.”

As I’ve mentioned before here, this situation has major implications for the church: Men just aren’t stepping up when things need doing; they aren’t volunteering. Either gripped by the sinfulness of their online addictions, or unable to find free time for the same reason, the mission of the church is slowly being ceded to women, a demographic which is also seeing a rise in online addictions of a different type. 

We need to have a conversation in each of our churches about this. This needs to be discussed. It needs to be confronted.

Our group of students are just amazing! We are so proud of each of them!

Congratulations to our six confirmation students who joined Christ Church today on Pentecost Sunday. Many thanks to the Rev. Roger Kimball for his teaching the Confirmation Class.

What is your journey?  Do you know?  Are you lost?  Found?  Somewhere in between?  Wherever you are is where you are and there is a peace in that.  There is also peace in deciding to head a certain direction.  The farther you go, the farther you get.  All we have is time!!  Here’s to making the most of it.  :)

I am excited every season with the opportunity to pour into younger men and women who are exploring youth ministry as a calling. I am sharpened as a person and as a minister as I pour into them and learn from them. And there is almost nothing that brings as much life to me or our ministry as a group of young men and women passionate about Jesus, passionate about life, and eager to grow in their experience and understanding.

We have an outstanding class of interns again this year. Zack and Ethan are focusing on college, Eric on high school, Christina on junior high, Charideth on high school and college women, and Ike on media. It is a privilege to be iron sharpening iron together.

I wish you could have been there….. One of my favorite moments in our training/orientation time was after we had studied the tightrope of adolescence (thank you, Chap Clark) stopping to proclaim and remember together who Jesus is. We stood and agreed under a May Tulsa sun. Jesus Christ is who this world needs. He is Father, Comforter, Healer, Redeemer, Identity, Hound of Heaven, Faithful One, Mighty Warrior, Victor……

Wednesday is our next time to all be together in one place. Staff and interns will be talking about “theological antecendents” for youth and college-age ministry around a good cup of Joe. In other words, why do we do this? Is it more than pragmatism or a middle class cultural phenomenon?

Adolescence is a new invention of a modernized world. So where do we look for Biblical guidance for direction, vision, methodology, praxis etc?

Want to start the conversation here? I’d love to hear your thoughts…. In what Biblical principles and stories do you find theological grounding for youth and college ministry?

My vocation (why are I here on earth)

Since I won’t be the next Valentino Balboni (former test driver for Lamborghini) I might as well be me…

My vocation, my calling, is youth ministry. God put it upon my heart in my Senior year of high school, and I have been active with different youth ministries some 9 years later. I don’t aim to reinvent the wheel when it comes to youth ministry, but I do desire to engage students in helping out others, that is social justice; to which I consider myself blessed to have had some students of mine help me out at the local soup kitchen, getting to know the homeless and poor in my hometown and feeding them has made my perspective change 180°.

I do know that some things with being a part of the Emergent church does spur me on in a different way than my Evangelical upbringing. By no means am I dropping Evangelicalism altogether, but there’s a bit of a progression, and so on the shoulders of Evangelicals I’ve become an Emergent. Instead of making “getting to Heaven” the drive for one’s actions, I hope to express and instill in students that while Heaven is part of the equation, the nature of “getting there” isn’t where I’m putting emphasis, but rather living out a life faithful to God, “on Earth as it is in Heaven”, kingdom work here and now, reconciliation and restoration, being part of the process that ushers in perfect shalom…because I think Heaven, for what it’s worth, might not be what Evangelicals have told and sold over the years, and I want to present a dynamic reality instead of a static one.

I also want to further my education by way of getting a Masters of Divinity (M. Div) in either Ireland or Scotland; I want to get some studying abroad as well as traveling abroad in my lifetime, I think this’ll help me get both in, in the proverbial killing two birds with one stone kind of way. I love learning, and I think expanding my education in the realm of what I find my calling to be will serve me well.

I also think and believe that part of my vocation is to build bridges between the Christian community and the LGBT community, not that there isn’t any overlap but there needs to be more. I have written quite a bit about that, and at the risk of beating a dead horse, I will just say this; Christians aren’t overall bad when it comes to engaging the LGBT community in a Christlike manner, I just think that we can do more. I also think about who Jesus spent his life on earth with, the ones in his day and age who were people that were marginalized, people who were looked down upon, people who were ignored…if Jesus spent his years here on Earth right now, I think he would spend a good deal of his time with the LGBT community. I think if we’re called to be like Christ as followers of Christ, stepping out in faith and building friendships and loving on the LGBT community is a very good and Godly thing to do.

I also like to write, I don’t know how that works into my vocation at this point, but down the road I might have some clarity that I don’t have at this present time.

~Nathanael~

The Kingdom of God is open for all men to enter. God does not love any ethnicity more than another. Yet we have ministers who will stand in a pulpit, and preach that the children of Ham are cursed, when nothing could be further from  the truth. I don’t mean any

harm, but these are ignorant, and unlearned men, who don’t understand the bible, or the Grace of God.

Let’s be real today. Black people have been hated by western civilization ever since they came to power. Everything imaginable has been done to these people in the name of God. Let me make this perfectly clear, GOD IS NOT A RACIST! He did not curse Black People. Yet we have people who claim to be Christians who absolutely abhor them. Hatred is not of God. Hatred comes from the force of evil within the hearts of men, and is from the kingdom of darkness.

In the name of supremacy, so much evil has been done to this people. Why? It is not of God, so why do people fool themselves that God is with them in this hatred. They are deceived into thinking that good is evil, and evil is good. Let me make this clear, God is not with you in your hatred of his people. Yes, they are his people.

via Rejected, But Not Forsaken! « Healing For The Nation.

This is a perfect message for all the Lady Gaga Controversies that’s been going around. Sure I’m not a big fan of Lady Gaga but I don’t hate her, I’m what you call indifferent. But nonetheless God doesn’t teach a believer to be just indifferent but He wants working Christians, living and able to do His work.

Lady Gaga really is something of a strange person, but God heals the sick (I’m not saying she’s sick) or otherwise, so let God do the healing, He will use instruments, even people in doing so, and it would not come in the form of hatred, and if you have hatred, you are not of God.

I realize that there is very good reason why, besides the fact that it is where I grew up and matured — ironic since I started in the youth ministry in my early twenties. With the youth, there is always a sense of newness, maybe much like our own beginning as a christian. There is that undeniable passion for God and to reach out to those who do not yet know God. There is that fire that we know we once had and we always want to have again. As we serve, help, teach, disciple, minister to them, we become privileged witnesses of their growth, of their faith. And we become inspired again and again. Our flames are fanned again and again.

I want to always go back to being like the youth. I want to be on fire, passionate, enthusiastic like they are. I want to always be in awe of God’s goodness, no matter how seemingly small the victory or breakthrough. I do not want to be too “Christian” for my own good, that I do not appreciate daily miracles anymore. I do not want to get tired of hearing God’s work in people’s lives, even if it’s as small as God answering prayers for parking or as basic as God teaching them to trust Him.

I don’t want to “know it all” already. I don’t want to be set in my ways. I want to remain eager to listen and learn, open to new exciting ideas. In other words, I don’t want to grow “old” haha! So to Grounded, our church’s youth group, thank you for keeping us young! And to our children, thank you for your example of child-like faith!

It was nice to see my son STILL “promoting his faith” even though his friend was over the weekend….. He did NOT appear to be embarrassed or ashamed which made me VERY happy!

Age does not mater and if you are able to speak and think, then SHARING about Jesus Christ is do -able! The weekend was interesting and went how GOD wanted it to go!

Be A Christian Witness! Despite Age! Despite Color! Despite Social Class!

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

A witness is a person who tells what he knows. Our job is to tell lost people what we know about the Lord Jesus Christ and His saving grace. A religion worth having is a religion worth propagating. If you are saved, it’s because someone took the time to witness to you. Well, YOU should witness to others. Tell others what Jesus has done for you, and what He can do for them. Learn some good salvation verses from your Bible and tell others! Invite friends and family members to attend church services with you so they too can hear the Gospel and be saved.

Before you were saved you were like a candle without a flame. Then God took one of His lighted candles (a Christian– Mat. 5:15) and gave you light. Now He wants to use you to give light to others.

One hundred years from now, you won’t value the time you spent watching television, playing sports, or being entertained, but you’ll place great value on the time you spent trying to bring lost souls to the Lord Jesus Christ. So now is the time to purpose in your heart that eternity is what matters most and your life needs to be filled with eternal investments. Your Lord and Saviour said, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Mat. 6:19-21)