The Christians Call of Duty

Martin Luther on the Holy Spirit

   I came across this while preparing for our Confirmation Class Retreat Weekend. As we look at the third person of the trinity I've found Winfield Bevins primer on the Holy Spirit to be very easy to understand and helpful. 

"I believe that by my own reason or strength I cannot believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him , but the Holy Spirit has called me through the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, and sanctified and preserved me in the true faith." 

~ Martin Luther

From The Resurgence: 5 Ways to Make Your Kids Hate Church

This is from Thomas Weaver over at  The Resurgence.com...

1. Make sure your faith is only something you live out in public

Go to church... at least most of the time. Make sure you agree with what you hear the preacher say, and affirm on the way home what was said especially when it has to do with your kids obeying, but let it stop there. Don’t read your bible at home. The pastor will say everything you need to hear on Sundays. Don’t engage your children in questions they have concerning Jesus and God. Live like you want to live during the week so that your kids can see that duplicity is ok.

2. Pray only in front of people

The only times you need to pray are when your family is over, Holiday meals, when someone is sick, and when you want something. Besides that, don’t bother. Your kids will see you pray when other people are watching, no need to do it with them in private.

3. Focus on your morals

Make sure you insist your kids be honest with you. Let them know it is the right thing for them to do, but then feel free to lie in your own life and disregard the need to tell them and others the truth. Get very angry with your children when they say words that are “naughty” and “bad”, but post, read, watch, and say whatever you want on TV, Facebook, and Twitter. Make sure you focus on being a good person. Be ambiguous about what this means.

4. Give financially as long as it doesn’t impede your needs

Make a big deal out of giving at church. Stress the need to your children the value of tithing, while not giving sacrificially yourself. Allow them to see you spend a ton of money on what you want, while negating your command from scripture to give sacrificially.

5. Make church community a priority. As long as there is nothing else you want to do

Hey, you are a church going family, right? I mean, that’s what you tell your friends and family anyways. Make sure you attend on Sundays. As long as you didn’t stay up too late Saturday night. Or your family isn’t having a big bar-b-que. Or the big game isn’t on. Or this week you just don’t feel like it. Or... I mean, you are church going family so what’s the big deal?

Just A Question..

New Series at Impact

This Sunday we'll start a new two week look at what we are called to as Christians. Also we'll have a guest worship leader Andrew Jones!

The Busy Student

As I'm on a little vacation it's given me a chance to catch up on some reading. Here's a great post I came across at More Then Dodgeball.com

I know that students are busy these days with extra curricular sports, music lessons, part time jobs and various other activities that lead to their perpetual business but last week it just got out of hand. A student who has been involved in our ministry for several months told me that, regrettably, she could not attend youth anymore. Her explanation for not being able to attend on Thursday nights: I have to ride my other horse! WHAT??? Other horse? I don’t have A horse let alone two. While I was not surprised that this happened, and it’s been a funny story to tell, it has caused me to think about what we can do to approach this issue.

Recently I heard Doug Fields talking about speaking to students and commented that when it comes to preaching “more isn’t better, better is better” and I think that rings true of all programming as well. If we get to see a student in our building one night a week it becomes important that we make the most of that opportunity. We have recently extended the length of our program to 2.5 hours and students show up as much as 3 hours early just to connect and spend time with leaders. We have moved away from multiple events per week to doing one major event per week and trying to do it really well. If we expect students to prioritize being at Youth, we need to prioritize making sure that when they come, we are ready for them. I would hate to be unprepared and waste an opportunity to speak into their lives if we only see them once a week.

So what can we do to deal with our busy students?

1- Don’t be discouraged! Easier said than done, but if an event is poorly attended it’s easy to be frustrated at all the work that went in to it. Just make sure you don’t take it out on the ones who showed up with your disappointed attitude but take the opportunity to give more of yourself to a smaller group.

2- Plan ahead: if its on the calendar far enough out and you promote it well or even better have a successful history with that event, students will schedule around it. Less is more with events, have fewer and make them can’t miss events and students will be there in force

3- Model it: If we are encouraging students to live lives that aren’t jammed packed with activities, we need to be the first to do it. Showing that balance is attainable gives our words more traction when we confront their fatigue and chronic activity.

4- Point them to Jesus: This is the most important thing we can show them, because we need to show students that in the midst of redeeming the world, Jesus found time to be alone, and not with people, or doing His ministry. It’s our responsibility to point our students to His example.

Not every student has two horses to ride, but I am sure you have all encountered students who have forever bouncing from one thing event to another. How are you dealing with it and encouraging students to have balance in their lives?

Geoff Stewart is the Pastor of Jr & Sr High School for Journey Student Ministries at Peace Portal Alliance Church and regularly contributes GUEST POSTS to MTDB. You can, too!

God Receives None But Those Who Are Forsaken

"Martin Luther describes this good news: “God receives none but those who are forsaken, restores health to none but those who are sick, gives sight to none but the blind, and life to none but the dead. . . . He has mercy on none but the wretched and gives grace to none but those who are in disgrace.” This message of the gospel is for all"

From Rid of My Disgrace by Lindsey A. Holcomb, Justin S. Holcomb


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An Un-Healthy Dose Of Supplements

Recently I purchased a 165 white pingpong balls, a large plastic clear container and three orange pingpong balls. Putting them all together is a stark visual reminder that the three hours a week which a student interacts with our ministry is dwarfed in comparison by the influence the 165 hours a week their parents have with them.

So is the answer more? More orange pingpong balls? More programs, more contact work, more "relational ministry"? More burned out youth workers?



Nope I think that the answer lies in getting a little perspective. Youth ministry was never meant to the be the meat and potatoes of a young persons faith. Duet. 6 makes it clear that role lies with the families. Biblically speaking youth ministry is at best to be likened to a supplement or a vitamin. If all a young person gets is vitamins they will grow weak because their body craves real protein. I think soul acts in a similar way. The church gathered (youth ministry) is a beautiful thing but faith is lived out, challenged, and grown outside of our safe, secure, meetings and worship services.

That said as part of my morning ritual I pop a nasty tasting little pill called a multi vitamin. Why? Because I think vitamins and the like, actually have an important place in life. They help fill the holes my less then perfect diet supplies my body with. Spiritually speaking I really do think youth ministry has a place. If I didn't I wouldn't have dedicated the last 10 years of my life to it. Youth ministry and the saints to serve in it has a place to strengthen, cheer on, and fill out a students faith. It has a place to equip parents into their God given role. Youth ministry has an incredibly important role to play in the lives of students who don't have Christian parents to look up to. The dangerous area where we in youth ministry are prone to stray is when we lose perspective and step into center of a students life where only Christ should be and put there by the students parents and family.

To keep those in youth ministry humble I'll take the metaphor one step further and remind us that most of a vitamin passes through the digestive system is expelled from the body anyway. My point? Simply this with man this is impossible with God all things are possible.



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Disciple

I spent the first two days of this week with 3DM ministries at a local event they held. 3DM is a ministry that helps local churches create learning cultures and equip then to disciple their people. Something that is sorely missing in youth ministry these days as well as the church over all. This particular event over 40 churches were represented from all over the country.

The few days I had to interact with them were both challenging and very practical. The takeaway line for me was...

"When we aim to create disciples we get church, when we aim to create church we don't always get disciples."

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Photos Of The Day

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Location:Chicago

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Presently my family is loaded into bright red and blue jet at 10000 feet somewhere over the south east USA. We are embarking on a little family trip to visit my wife's family near Chicago. Several exciting things to mention...

1. It's my daughters first time flying and after a little fear she's a champ.
2. My first time flying SouthWest and I must say I'm a fan.
3. Looking forward to my fist authentic deep dish pizza experience.


I'm sure there will be more but for now that will do.

Dear FCA just wanted to reassure you that this will be posted when we are back on the ground and not while in flight.


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Location:Somewhere over the South East USA

OMG My Nose Won't Stop

Take a wild guess where I live....

The Appalachian Trail in 4 min.

This is for my friend Sam

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Coffee

One thing you might not know about me is my wild obsession with good coffee. I'm sure some of my friends who visit this blog are thinking..."Did he do it... did he give up coffee for lent??" lets not get crazy now.  I will say that my Lenten discipline is personal and my dear old blog reader you don't get to know. I will also say that LifeHacker has put out a great article on how you can brew better coffee. It's well worth the read.

Kevin Purdy —

Like computers, coffee is complex, easy to sink money into, and attracts a vast swath of opinions. And like computers, there is a wise middle path you can walk to get top-notch coffee at home without spending MacBook-like money on brewing gear.
Image via Mat Honan.
What will you get out of this treatise on slightly snob-ish coffee? A better understanding of why the standard means of buying, storing, and making coffee leaves much to be desired, followed by a rundown of some of the better, and less expensive, coffee-making methods—what I call hand-crafted coffee—and how it's sometimes faster, and usually more fun, than making a pot of the classic drip stuff.
There are two things you should know up front.

First: I'm not a coffee expert. In fact, as of a month ago, my coffee came primarily from baristas, a Keurig single-serve machine (photographic evidence here, a standard drip machine, or, on leisurely weekends, a French press that I knew two-thirds of the instructions for. To rectify this, I spent a month experimenting with at-home coffee methods, foistiSong blind taste tests on friends and co-workers, and researching what I call the Taste-to-Fuss Ratio. I also betrayed everything I once held dear about caffeine dependency,

Second: Your taste in coffee is unique to mine. You might be looking for a smooth, gentle cup to accompany your drive to work, while I'm hoping my next cup tastes like pure Arabic gold. You get the freshest, single-source beans you can find from a local source, while I'm okay with the occasional cup of Eight O' Clock.

Be sure to read the rest here.

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 So pour a good cup of java enjoy it and hopefully as it rouses you from your morning slumber you'll be reminded of God's gracious power to raise us not only from our own sin but ultimately from the grave.

(Thinking about writing a book "Magic Beans: A Good Theological Look at Good Coffee")

Basic Impact KickBall Tournament

April 10th we're putting together a little kick ball tournament. It'll be a great way to foster community via competition through our small groups which will act as teams. The mens ministry has volunteered to come along side us as umpires.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

An excerpt from The Road to Daybreak, Henri J. M. Nouwen

A Lenten Prayer

The Lenten season begins. It is a time to be with you, Lord, in a special way, a time to pray, to fast, and thus to follow you on your way to Jerusalem, to Golgotha, and to the final victory over death.

I am still so divided. I truly want to follow you, but I also want to follow my own desires and lend an ear to the voices that speak about prestige, success, pleasure, power, and influence. Help me to become deaf to these voices and more attentive to your voice, which calls me to choose the narrow road to life.

I know that Lent is going to be a very hard time for me. The choice for your way has to be made every moment of my life.  I have to choose thoughts that are your thoughts, words that are your words, and actions that are your actions. There are not times or places without choices. And I know how deeply I resist choosing you.

Please, Lord, be with me at every moment and in every place. Give me the strength and the courage to live this season faithfully, so that, when Easter comes, I will be able to taste with joy the new life that you have prepared for me.

Amen.

5 Min. Update

I feel the blog has been fairly quiet as of late. Here's a little snippet of life as I'm waiting on students to show up.

• Family: My wife and daughter got back from a great trip to Disney World with their good friends. They were gone all of last week and I can't describe how good it is to have the house filled with people again. Me and the dogs were barely scratching out an existence as the local pizza place can tell you.  So I'm glad they're home. 
• Ministry: Things are moving right along as far as spring goes. God is sovereign and good. We are doing some equipping stuff with parents, a lot of small group stuff with kids, and some intense discipleship stuff with a confirmation class. I'll be attending a conference next week that should be interesting. More on that later. 
• Personal stuff: Lent begins soon. Please wait.

Good

I had a very intriguing conversation with a friend several weeks ago where we talked about the concept of good. There is this running trend in the students I interact with. They feel that not only they are good but that the gospel exist to make them better at being good. This is amazingly skewed view of reality.

The sound byte that has stuck out in my conversation with my friend was that the only way we could possibly consider ourselves “good” is if we are either dishonest with our nature or we have a complexly skewed view of what good really is. 

Walls Be Broken

For he himself is our peace

Who has made us both one

And has broken down in his flesh

 The dividing wall of hostility

Where are your walls? 

(Thanks for the reminder of Eph 2:14 Dwight.)